I don’t know much about the Front Mission series. Instead, I have vague notions that it’s developed in Japan, features giant robots and was historically a tactical role-playing game. I was anticipating something resembling that when I saw the latest… Continue Reading →

I don’t know much about the Front Mission series. Instead, I have vague notions that it’s developed in Japan, features giant robots and was historically a tactical role-playing game. I was anticipating something resembling that when I saw the latest chapter in the franchise, Front Mission Evolved last week in San Francisco. I pictured mechs moving across a square grid with anime characters bantering back and forth in overdramatic dialogue.

I was wrong. After spending two hours with it and talking to design director David Verfaillie, my expectations were flipped upside down. Front Mission Evolved is, well, evolved or at least adapted for Western tastes. Developed by Double Helix, the same team that worked Silent Hill Homecoming, this Front Mission is more action-oriented as players directly control a mech and move about a level blasting all sorts of enemies.

It’s basically a third-person shooter with robots, but the Wanzers, as the mechs are called, don’t lumber across the landscape. They’re actually agile and swift. It doesn’t work nearly as well as High Moon Studios’ Transformers: War for Cybertron but it’s serviceable.

Despite the new approach, Double Helix is staying true to the franchise’s universe. It’s bringing back old landmarks such as Huffman Island, and Front Mission Evolved will focus on a lot of the same themes such as politics being the matchstick for war. When it comes to the strategy portion, Double Helix is creating what it hopes to be an in-depth customization system. Players can customize their Wanzer’s four parts: legs, two arms and torso.

Players can load the hands and shoulders with shotguns, rocket launchers, melee weapons. All of them are activated via the trigger and bumper buttons. The type of legs will determine a players locomotion. They can either stand on two legs, which lets them glide and jump to higher places, or they can opt for a more slower but stronger spider leg variation. Lastly, the torso has a number of upgrades depending on the model. In the multiplayer, having a torso with a medic backpack can let players heal others or a hover version lets them float in midair.

As for the single-player campaign, gamers will take on the role of Dylan Ramsey, an engineer, who gets thrown into this conflict between the UCS and other shadowy organizations. His father invented a new Edge System, which gives players the ability to slow down time and more accurately kill enemies. He’ll use it during a few chapters on Huffman Island. Along the way, he’ll encounter allies that gives Front Mission Evolved a more squad-based approach.

Later on, players will go into bases and move on foot. In the scenario I saw, Dylan had to activate four Wanzers to help expel invaders. The battle gives players a sense of scale. They see how large the robots are and how small a human pilot actually is. The camera switches to a more over-the-shoulder perspective and the firefights are more cover-based. Dylan will have to duck behind consoles and barricades. Unfortunately, there is no cover system but the environments are destructable, meaning you can’t hide forever behind that impervious wooden crate. This becomes more important during the one on one human vs. wanzer showdowns.

The story campaign takes places over five acts and players should expect some lengthy cut scenes that move the story along. Hey, this is a Square Enix game after all. There’ll be seven boss fights and I can guarantee you that at least one of them is fairly grand. In addition, there are collectibles scattered through each stage. I’m usually not keen on them. I find it more annoying than anything else, but at least, there’s a benefit to shooting sensors and collecting the three emblems per stage. It gives players more cash to buy upgrade parts, which will definitely make the rest of the campaign easier.

When it comes to multiplayer, Front Mission Evolved appears basic. There are four modes: DeathMatch, Team DeathMatch, Supremacy (which is their version of King of the Hill) and Domination (which includes control point turrets). Players at least get to customize their mechs. They can change the aforementioned parts and their mech colors. I was comfortable enough in my manhood to pilot something in a hot pink. To balance things out, there’s a point system assigned to each part with a cap to how much you can add. Don’t expect to see any uber-mechs in the game. I mean you won’t see Voltron or anything.

In actual gameplay, it took a while to get used to the controls and the idea of using four weapons at once. I started off awful. I was the dude who always got meleed to death because he didn’t know where he was going. But over time, I got my share of kills as I learned the cityscape. (In all, there are six maps.) I didn’t get to see the benefits of the persistent leveling system, where players will be able to get better battle skills and equipment. But I was able to equip my mech with a battle skills like a damage over time that negates a healing ability.

Overall, my impression of the multiplayer is this: It has potential. I just wish there were more maps and modes.